Ouklip Road revamped

Council hopes that the public will be optimistic and positive after some changes had been made on Ouklip Road to make the road safer.

For years there has been a desperate plea from residents, those who have lost loved ones and the concerned public travelling along Ouklip to put an end to speeding and reduce accidents on the road.

Following the last fatal accidents, council has made a number of changes, hoping it will be the solution.

For starters, a three-way stop has been implemented at the corner of Sonderend Street and Ouklip Road just before the crèche and secondly, a four-way stop has been implemented at the corner of Graphite and Ouklip Roads. Thirdly, signs have been upgraded, indicating the hidden entrances on the road and lastly a number of additional cameras have been installed. Ripples to warn motorists to slow down also will be implemented soon.

While the councillor for the area, Suzanne Clarke is hoping that the changes will satisfy everyone, she also mentioned great disappointed.

“Council was told that the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) should intervene more by conducting more roadblocks and I was convinced that the people speeding and causing the trouble on our road are motorists not from our area – but I was wrong.

“I know this because in a recent roadblock, the JMPD and I were flabbergasted to find out that the people speeding and are under influence were motorists living in our ward (area). And it was some of these people who were the ones shouting and screaming, demanding a solution at meetings. Are we then not defeating the purpose here?

“At a number of meetings I was asked, requested and demanded to make a plan regarding the speeding on Ouklip Road and make it safer. We now came up with a few solutions. Should it not work, we can look at other alternatives. Robots are also a possibility but let’s see how things go for now.

“We unfortunately cannot implement speed bumps as it is very costly. The changes made as mentioned above are cost effective and I think the cheapest.”

Although the councillor is expecting more responses from the public regarding the changes, she mentioned in an interview with the Record that like anything else in the country, there always will be positive and negative views.

“The old age home is extremely happy and I received many thank yous regarding the four-way stop (Graphite and Ouklip Roads), which means the days of waiting half an hour to cross are over. The whole idea of the three and four-way stops is to try and break the speeding of motorists.”

Asked if their plan really will work and help reduce speeding and possibly accidents, Clarke said, “Accidents is exactly that, an accident. I don’t think it will prevent accidents as such, but it could break the speeding. What we are trying to achieve here is accommodating everyone. Let’s try this. If this doesn’t help we’ll try something else. We need to be proactive instead of reactive, let’s monitor it.”

Clarke requests that the public give their feedback regarding the changes via email at ward83jhb@gmail.com or phone her on 072 508 9947.